{"id":1512,"date":"2017-03-23T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/?p=1512"},"modified":"2019-11-07T23:35:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T07:35:38","slug":"understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the overuse of antibiotics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your nasty cold has turned into a hacking cough and a sore throat. Reluctantly, you drag yourself to the doctor, thinking a dose of antibiotics will take care of it.<\/p>\n<p>To your surprise, your doctor doesn\u2019t prescribe antibiotics. What gives?<\/p>\n<p>The reason for this is simple: It\u2019s called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/getsmart\/community\/about\/antibiotic-resistance-faqs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">antibiotic resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In short, the overuse of antibiotics is making them less effective at combating infection. As a result, your doctor may only prescribe antibiotics to treat certain kinds of infections.<\/p>\n<h2>What is antibiotic resistance?<\/h2>\n<p>Ever since the discovery of penicillin, antibiotics have been the key to saving millions of lives. But since antibiotics have become common, some types of bacteria have become resistant to certain types of antibiotics. As a result, many antibiotics just don\u2019t work anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Not only are they less effective, they can be harmful. Taking antibiotics when they\u2019re not needed can promote the growth of bacteria-resistant germs in your body and destroy \"good\" bacteria in your intestines, causing an overgrowth of \"bad\" bacteria.<\/p>\n<h2>How to avoid the overuse of antibiotics<\/h2>\n<p>It's best to let milder illnesses run their course. But leave it to your doctor to decide if an illness is mild or not. If your doctor determines that your illness is caused by bacterial infections, such as strep throat, sinus infection, whooping cough, or certain ear infections, your doctor will prescribe antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p>Your doctor will most likely <strong><em>not<\/em><\/strong> prescribe antibiotics for the following conditions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cold<\/li>\n<li>Flu<\/li>\n<li>Bronchitis<\/li>\n<li>Most coughs<\/li>\n<li>Most sore throats<\/li>\n<li>Some ear infections<\/li>\n<li>Some sinus infections<\/li>\n<li>Stomach flu<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Alternatives to antibiotics<\/h2>\n<p>If your doctor diagnoses you with a viral infection, you have other, safer treatment options. To get on the road to recovery when you have a viral infection, you can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask your doctor about over-the-counter treatment options that may help reduce symptoms<\/li>\n<li>Drink more fluids<\/li>\n<li>Get plenty of rest<\/li>\n<li>Use a cool-mist vaporizer or over-the-counter saline nasal spray to relieve congestion<\/li>\n<li>Soothe your throat with crushed ice, sore throat spray, or lozenges. (Do not give lozenges to young children)<\/li>\n<li>Use honey to relieve a cough. (Do not give honey to an infant under one year of age)<\/li>\n<li>If you are diagnosed with the flu, consider treating it with prescription drugs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember, you can avoid the overuse of antibiotics by never taking them without a prescription. Do not take antibiotics that are left over from a previous prescription.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your nasty cold has turned into a hacking cough and a sore throat. Reluctantly, you drag yourself to the doctor, thinking a dose of antibiotics will take care of it. To your surprise, your doctor doesn\u2019t prescribe antibiotics. What gives? The reason for this is simple: It\u2019s called antibiotic resistance. In short, the overuse of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":1767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[50,290,408,27,457],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-featured.jpg","acf":{"post_type":"post","post_subtitle":"Not all infections should be treated with antibiotics. Here\u2019s how you can prevent their overuse.","post_hero_image":{"ID":1768,"id":1768,"title":"understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero","filename":"understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","filesize":40670,"url":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","link":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero\/","alt":"A smiling doctor explains the overuse of antibiotics to a mother and her child.","author":"49","description":"A smiling doctor explains the overuse of antibiotics to a mother and her child.","caption":"Not all infections should be treated with antibiotics. Ask your doctor if they are necessary.","name":"understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1512,"date":"2017-02-28 20:58:31","modified":"2017-02-28 20:59:56","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":960,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":63,"medium":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":125,"medium_large":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":267,"large":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":267,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":400,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/understanding-overuse-of-antibiotics-hero.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":400}},"post_cta_status":"true","post_co_branding_status":"false","post_conclusion_status":"false","mobile_content":{"mobile_story_label":"Health 101","mobile_post_title":"Understanding the overuse of antibiotics","mobile_carousel_image":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Understanding-the-overuse-of-antibiotics-210x210.jpg","mobile_hero_image":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Understanding-the-overuse-of-antibiotics-300x300.jpg","mobile_content_body":"<p>Your nasty cold has turned into a hacking cough and a sore throat. Reluctantly, you drag yourself to the doctor, figuring a dose of antibiotics will take care of it.<\/p>\n<p>To your surprise, your doctor doesn\u2019t prescribe antibiotics. What gives?<\/p>\n<p>The reason for this is simple: It\u2019s called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/getsmart\/community\/about\/antibiotic-resistance-faqs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">antibiotic resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>What is antibiotic resistance?<\/h2>\n<p>Ever since the discovery of penicillin, antibiotics have been the key to saving millions of lives. However, due to their overuse, humans have become resistant to certain strains of antibiotics. As a result, many antibiotics just don\u2019t work anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Not only are they less effective, they can be harmful. Taking antibiotics when they\u2019re not needed can promote the growth of bacteria-resistant germs in your body and destroy \"good bacteria\" in your intestines, causing an overgrowth of \"bad bacteria.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>How to avoid their overuse<\/h2>\n<p>It's best to let milder illnesses run their course. But leave it to your doctor to decide if an illness is \"mild\" or not. If your doctor determines that your illness is caused by bacterial infections, such as strep throat, sinus infection, whooping cough, or certain ear infections, your doctor will prescribe antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p>However, your doctor will most likely not prescribe antibiotics for the following conditions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cold or flu<\/li>\n<li>Bronchitis<\/li>\n<li>Most coughs\u00a0and sore throats<\/li>\n<li>Some ear or sinus infections<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Alternatives to antibiotics<\/h2>\n<p>If your doctor diagnoses you with a viral infection, you have other, safer treatment options. To get on the road to recovery when you have a viral infection, you can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask your doctor about over-the-counter treatment options that may help reduce symptoms.<\/li>\n<li>Drink more fluids and get plenty of rest.<\/li>\n<li>Use a cool-mist vaporizer or over-the-counter saline nasal spray to relieve congestion.<\/li>\n<li>Soothe your throat with crushed ice, sore throat spray, or lozenges. (Do not give lozenges to young children.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember, you can avoid overusing antibiotics by never taking them without a prescription. Don't take antibiotics left over from a previous prescription, and do not purchase antibiotics on the internet.<\/p>\n"},"card_title":"Understanding the overuse of antibiotics","header":"Worth the look","footer":"2 minute read"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}